Defiant Nottingham Forest message issued as Reds ready to ‘fight it out’ in relegation scrap

Head coach Steve Cooper says Nottingham Forest is prepared to fight for their Premier League lives once the season resumes after the international break.

The Welshman insists the Reds were always going to be steeling themselves for a battle in the run-in, regardless of how Friday night’s game against Newcastle United panned out. And being beaten 2-1 at the City Ground hasn’t changed their mindset.

Alexander Isak’s double, with a last-minute winner from the penalty spot, ended Forest’s nine-match unbeaten run at home in the league, canceling out Emmanuel Dennis’ opener. They are two points above the drop zone ahead of Saturday’s round of fixtures.

“It’s the worst way to lose, giving away a penalty in the dying moments and it being the decisive goal,” said Cooper. “But the situation we’re in, win, lose or draw in this one, we were still going to be in and amongst a group of teams that are going to fight it out after the break to stay above the relegation zone.

“That hasn’t changed. We would have liked to have gone into the break with a point or three points. It was looking like it was probably going to be a point, and I think we might have accepted that because of the way the game was and who we were playing, but it wasn’t to be.

“It’s obviously a time of the season where it is tenser, but it is for everybody. Newcastle would have wanted to win for different reasons than us. It’s just that time of year that if people are feeling there’s more on it and it’s tense – and I guess it is – it’s just because it’s the time of the season. It’s the same for everybody.